Caught Up In the Swirl
by Erikstrulove
Summary: Re-working fic. No update yet. Rodney mystery all around! And a little bit of everything just for fun.


AN) Im just cleaning up here. Ive made a few changes, but nothing big so you dont need to re-read anything. Although, you may want to cause its been a horribly long time since I updated. At any rate, once I clean up what Ive got, Im going to update with an _actual_, brand new, _never before seen _chapter!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, itd still be on.

It was beautiful, the way the beams built energy. The way you could see the energy directing itself inward against the buffer, swirling round and round, finally releasing itself in whatever direction it was aimed when the lever was pulled. The energy arched through space, tightly concentrated on its designation it swerved 'round the nose of its harbor and flew. One supposed, if you could slow time just enough, you'd see little bits of power sizzling against itself, crackling with it's own energy. Like a struggle within itself -who could reach the end quicker? In the end, though, the result would be the same.

Destruction.

It was becoming difficult to see through the viewing portal of the shuttle. Partly because of the distance they had covered since their escape from the ship they had such a short time ago called home; and partly for the massive amounts of debris that now littered space. He supposed that eventually, gravity would pull it all together, and it would make its way to some nearby star and burn. He wondered how long that would take. A year? A thousand years? It mattered little, now. A tear rolled down his cheek, and stuck by his unshaven chin. He could see in his mind the bloated bodies of his fellow soldiers, his neighbors, his family, all out there in the blazing light of destruction, scarred and disfigured

A voice pulled him from morbid thoughts, he flicked his eyes to the speaker, a silent query.

"I asked if it is yet time to engage the hyper drive."

Dampened eyes scanned the console, all the indicators were blue, "It is time." His attention was once more on the portal, and he was sure he could see his wife out there, in the fading lights of battle

"Papa?" Came the soft voice of his only surviving child. The sole survivor of his family.

He gazed down fondly at his young son, trying to hide the pain in his eyes, his brow creased as he battled the tears.

"Yes my son?"

The young boy looked away from his fathers eyes to the floor, "Are not, are not my siblings, and mother?" He was unable to continue, tears splattering on his shoes.

He crouched down to his son's level and held the boy's chin up, "I am sorry, Rodney, I am _so, so_ sorry." He whispered. Tenderly, he lifted the boy into an empty escape pod and slid the pod door shut, instantly the boy was asleep. He then depressurized the inner seal and sent the pod on it's way to a safe cluster where, with any luck, he would attach to one of a million asteroids floating harmlessly and stay there until one day, he could be retrieved.

But for now the boy would dream.

Present:

"What's that?"

"What?" McKay spun around, and action he instantly regretted as he slipped on the accumulated soap suds lining the shower's floor and landed on his butt. "No, don't help me up, _please_." McKay pulled himself up and cast Sheppard a disgusted look. "You've been in the military how many years and you don't know what a-"

Sheppard stopped him with a look of his own, "No, _that."_ He pointed to the necklace dangling from the scientists neck.

"It's called a necklace, Colonel." His tone said, 'how dumb are you?'

"I see that, I've just never seen you wear it before, or, _any_ jewelry for that matter."

Rodney fingered the necklace, "Well I stopped wearing it for awhile, didn't want it to get lost on some mud-filled parasite infested garbage heap of a planet. And quite looking at me that way." He snapped.

Sheppard rolled his eyes, "Don't flatter yourself Rodney, I was looking at the necklace."

"Just make sure you stay at least four feet away." Rodney stepped out into the changing area outside the showers and grabbed a towel.

Sheppard followed suite, "So where'd you get it?"

"What?"

Sheppard made a motion around his neck, "The necklace."

McKay gazed into his towel and beyond it, seeing something far away"Family gave it to me."

Sheppard grunted and pursed is lips, maybe he could wheedle a bit more out of him. "Sister gave me a bracelet she made once. It was pink."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "How fascinating for you colonel."

"Hey, just thought I'd share."

Rodney slide his pants over a pair of Blackadder boxers and frowned, "Yes, and I'm just _so_ excited to hear all about it." Rodney paused a moment, "You wore a pink bracelet?"

"Didn't think you were interested."

"I'm not. I'm just curious if that's where your gay tendencies first appeared."

"McKay! I was looking at your _necklace_you have to admit it's pretty weird looking. The necklace." He quickly amended. "And my sister made it as an apology." It really had been a nice gesture from his sister, it was an 'I'm sorry for spitting in your cereal' gift. John looked at his watch and sighed, "We'd better get going, Elizabeth won't like it if we're late a third time this week."

Rodney finished tying his laces and followed John out the door.

Rodney, sitting at the desk in his quarters, pondered over what he had told John earlier about his necklace. He _had_ gotten it from his family, hadn't he? But if he had, wouldn't there be a memory, or something? Rodney could feel it had great sentimental value, when he was a child he had never taken it off, in fact, it was his father that had made him part with it when he'd turned eleven.

"_Rodney, take that damned necklace off you look like a girl." Stuart McKay pointed to the boys neck._

"_Mom doesn't care if I wear it" Rodney realized too late that that had been the wrong thing to say to his father_

Rodney remembered he had found it again when he was packing for Atlantis, he'd found it in one of his and Jeannie's fairytale books, Peter Pan, it was. Rodney reasoned he must have put it in the old loose binding for safe keeping after his father had made him stop wearing it. He had in fact smuggled it to Atlantis on a whim and was lying just below his feet in a box.

Rodney smiled, thinking about when Jeannie had made him take the book. He was leaving for college and she had forced the book into his hands

"_Just take it Mer, it was your favorite book."_

"_No it wasn't, have you even ever read the book? A bunch of snot-nosed kids, badgering adults"_

"_Just take the book. It'll remind you of methat means _keep in touch _when you become a major world famous science geek and change the world."_

"_That reminds me, how did you do on that paper?"_

"_I got an A."_

"_Thanks to me." Rodney smirked._

__

Jeannie hit him on the shoulder with the book. "Oh, that's right, I thought you had an ulterior motive hidden behind that question

"_Whateverhey where's mom and dad?"_

Rodney dug through his box of textbooks until he found the old familiar leather bound book. It was an old book, very old and very worn out. Its pages were discolored and some were creased where he had long ago dog-eared the pages. Jeannie hadn't been lying, he really had loved that book. Rodney turned the page in his hand and stopped, on the page was strange writing, scribbles, really

Past:

He felt, nothing, mostly. No sensation, he was merely there, in the pod. Sometimes he could think. But only sometimes. The opportunity would present itself and his mind would grasp it, and he would ponder over himself. But other times, he would dream strange dreams. Occasionally, all his brothers and sisters would be there with him, but it wasn't normal, he couldn't touch them, and they couldn't see him. And he would yell and scream out to them, but they could not hear him, and eventually they would vanish and his mind would enter a state of deeper sleep. Where he felt

Nothing.

Sometimes, it was hard. He couldn't think straight, he didn't want to feel nothing, he wanted to feel _something_, he wanted to think

Perhaps though, in reality (assuming that he existed in something other than this blankness he floated in) wanting to feel something meant he _was _feeling something. You cant blank out your mind if you can see the hand holding up the white sheet of paper.

How much time was passing, between these 'bouts of consciousness? MinutesHours

_Years?_

Present:

"_Doctor McKay, I repeat, your assistance is needed in lab four."_

Rodney shook the fuzz from around his vision and absently closed the book in his hands.

"Right, McKay out."

Past:

Narrin was looking up at the sky, it was something the other children teased him about. Stargazing. Just a bunch of sky lights, always there. But Narrin thought they were interesting, he thought maybe there were more to sky lights than the other children thought. Maybe, if one could be reached, he could prove they were worth looking at.

And as if some entity was listening to his thoughts, his wish was granted. One of the sky lights was falling.

This is it, I finally have a chance to touch one of the sky lights!" Narrin slide down into the great hole created by the falling sky light. It wasn't glowing anymore and Narrin wondered if it was broken, and if lights _could_ break. Narrin practically jumped out of his skin when the dark sky light fizzed and popped, a piece of it sliding backwards over itself.

Narrin relaxed when he realized it was merely a door. Well, a strange door, like none he had ever seen before, but it was definitely a door to something, even if it did look strange.

Did sky lights have doors?

He took a few steps closer, and as the steam cleared from the steel housings of the door he could see it opened to a very small space.

Only big enough for the boy inside.

Present:

"Idiot!" In lab four, McKay's face had turned that unhealthy shade of red his underlings had come to realize was his "I'm beyond livid" face. "And what were you planning on saying when Lorne's team came tearing back through the gate, hmm? How 'bout, 'oh, gee, I'm sorry you didn't detect those wraith in time, if only I had had _brains enough _to double check my work and make sure the sensors were _properly calibrated _to detect a wraith signature!" Rodney spat. "On the upside though, had there been any humans, you could've avoided them."

The scientist, a man who, only having been on Atlantis a short time, had been given the easy task of repairing all the damaged life sign detector's. It was an easy, if repetitive, chore. "I'm sorry, I just overlooked it." He shook his head. "It won't happen again."

"_Just_? Just, overlooked? You don't _just_ overlook something in the Pegasus galaxy you get _killed_, and you get your teammates killed. Rodney flicked his eyes towards a random face.

Weird red hair, what was is name? Rodney decided on, Shen, finish this up.

Shane, sir.

Rodney shook his head distractedly, What?

Nothing sir.

Good, make sure all of those, He gestured to the pile of damaged LSDs, Are working properly before you leave.

Yes sir.

Commissary:

"So I heard you made another scientist cry. What's that, number five this week?"

Rodney shoveled another spoonful of pudding into his mouth before answering, "He didn't cry," swallow, "Although, if he had, it would only be three. I can't help it if the SGC only sends me incompetent fools."

Teyla frowned from across the table, "They cannot all be as bad as you say Rodney, surely Stargate Command has higher standards."

Rodney was wondering if that was actually true when he realized he had just eaten all his pudding without noticing it. "Hmm. Do you think there's any more pudding left at the counter?"

Teyla rolled her eyes, and Ronon grunted, "Wont be for long with you around."

Rodney looked up at him with annoyance, but rose to go see and maybe prove Ronon right.

"You guys notice that necklace he's been wearing?" Colonel Sheppard leaned in close to his teammates.

"I have seen Rodney wear it on numerous occasions."

"Really? How come I've never noticed it?" John and Ronon looked towards Teyla.

"Because men do not notice such things."

"But I noticed today"

Men wondered about the most trivial things, "I must go now. I have promised doctor Heightmeyer I would show her how to brew Athosian tea."

"Exciting."

Rodney came back with his chocolate pudding as Teyla was leaving, "What'd I miss?"

"She's making tea."

"Exciting."

Past:

Narrin cautiously reached out his hand, moving closer and closer to the boy within the pod


End file.
